Kristin Cashore
Author of Graceling
About the Author
Disambiguation Notice:
Kristin Cashore has been writing in-house type educational publications for several years; those nonfiction early readers in topics such as history, politics and biology are written by the SAME Kristin Cashore who authored (novels) Graceling and Fire. Please do not split the author!
Series
Works by Kristin Cashore
Making Pictures (Vocabulary Readers) 26 copies
A Vet for All Animals 2 copies
Take the Subway 1 copy
Water on Earth 1 copy
Swamp Life 1 copy
Die Wahrhaftige (Die sieben Königreiche 4): High Fantasy mit starken und unvergesslichen Heldinnen (German Edition) (2022) 1 copy
Exploring Motion and Force 1 copy
Predator and Prey 1 copy
Swamp Life 1 copy
Exploring Motion and Force 1 copy
Water on Earth 1 copy
What is Light? 1 copy
How to Grow Tomatoes 1 copy
A Man of The Wilderness 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1976-08
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Simmons College (M.A.|Children's Literature)
Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA - Occupations
- dog runner
packer in candy factory
editorial assistant
legal assistant
freelance writer - Agent
- Faye Bender
- Short biography
- Kristin Cashore grew up in a rural area of the northeast Pennsylvania, as the second of four daughters. During her childhood she read constantly. She received a bachelor's degree from Williams College and a master's from the Center for the Study of Children's Literature at Simmons College, where she worked with Liza Ketchum and was named a Virginia Haviland Scholar. She has worked as a dog runner, a packer in a candy factory, an editorial assistant, and a legal assistant. She is a freelance educational writer who writes content for textbooks and teacher editions, as well as book reviews for The Horn Book Guide and other publications. Since 2008 she also wrote fantasy novels for Young Adults.
She has lived in Pennsylvania, Florida, Sydney, Boston, Cambridge, Austin, Italy and even London before settling, for the moment, in Massachusetts. - Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Disambiguation notice
- Kristin Cashore has been writing in-house type educational publications for several years; those nonfiction early readers in topics such as history, politics and biology are written by the SAME Kristin Cashore who authored (novels) Graceling and Fire. Please do not split the author!
- Associated Place (for map)
- Massachusetts, USA
Members
Discussions
Found: Young adult fantasy, Red haired protagonist w/ evil father in Name that Book (September 2021)
GROUP READ: Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Spoiler-Free Thread) in Hogwarts Express (March 2012)
Reviews
Wow. This book is just awful. Set in a flat, ill-described fantasy landscape, Katsa is a graceling. This means that she has a supernatural ability to fight. Her king has long been using her to enforce his tyrannical rule, but Katsa and her friends have banded together to form The Counsel, a secret group that gads about the kingdom doing good.
I knew within the first few pages that I wasn't going to like this book, but I persevered, because I have an almost pathological inability to quit show more reading a book once I've started. First of all, Katsa is the worst example of a Mary Sue I've seen outside of second-rate Lord of the Rings fanfiction. I don't mind indulging in a bit of Mary Sue, but Katsa was just plain over-powered. It made for a weak plot, which was frankly, already sickly. Besides being ludicrously powerful, Katsa's just an awful person. Basically, the king has been making her torture people since she was sixteen. And she never once considers simply REFUSING to torture people until Po shows up and suggests it. She spends a lot of time moping around because she has to torture people. She feels really guilty about it, we are constantly assured. Meanwhile, look at it from the peasant's point of view. Katsa just marches into his house and cuts all his fingers off because he shot one too many deer in the king's forest. Are we, the reader, supposed to absolve Katsa for this brutal action because the king "made" her do it and she feels "really bad" about it? Personally, I can't do that. She doesn't even resist him at any point until the day that she straight up tells him she's not going to do it anymore. And ultimately, she doesn't do it because torturing people is inherently, morally wrong, but because she doesn't want the king to control her anymore. Anyways, I could go on for hours about the poor writing, the cheesy romance, the flat characters, and screwy agenda, but I won't. I want to get started forgetting all about this book. Just take my advice and avoid it. show less
I knew within the first few pages that I wasn't going to like this book, but I persevered, because I have an almost pathological inability to quit show more reading a book once I've started. First of all, Katsa is the worst example of a Mary Sue I've seen outside of second-rate Lord of the Rings fanfiction. I don't mind indulging in a bit of Mary Sue, but Katsa was just plain over-powered. It made for a weak plot, which was frankly, already sickly. Besides being ludicrously powerful, Katsa's just an awful person. Basically, the king has been making her torture people since she was sixteen. And she never once considers simply REFUSING to torture people until Po shows up and suggests it. She spends a lot of time moping around because she has to torture people. She feels really guilty about it, we are constantly assured. Meanwhile, look at it from the peasant's point of view. Katsa just marches into his house and cuts all his fingers off because he shot one too many deer in the king's forest. Are we, the reader, supposed to absolve Katsa for this brutal action because the king "made" her do it and she feels "really bad" about it? Personally, I can't do that. She doesn't even resist him at any point until the day that she straight up tells him she's not going to do it anymore. And ultimately, she doesn't do it because torturing people is inherently, morally wrong, but because she doesn't want the king to control her anymore. Anyways, I could go on for hours about the poor writing, the cheesy romance, the flat characters, and screwy agenda, but I won't. I want to get started forgetting all about this book. Just take my advice and avoid it. show less
This is a prequel to Cashore's Graceling, which I tore through years ago but didn't find very memorable after the fact. So I figured I'd enjoy the book, but wasn't in a huge hurry to read it, and eventually just borrowed it from the library. Now that I've read it, I'm thinking I may have to buy my own copy after all, and I'll probably purchase Bitterblue new in hardcover to support the author.
So, this means I liked Fire a lot. It was very different from Graceling, being set in almost an show more entirely different world. In the Dells there are "monsters", brightly-coloured but potentially more deadly versions of regular creatures. Fire is the only surviving human monster, with a beauty that makes weak-minded people helpless before her and an ability to read and influence other people's thoughts and feelings. She's obviously very powerful, but reluctant to use her power and in many ways ashamed of it because of the horrible example set by her father.
Much of this book is about Fire's struggle to come to terms with herself, and I enjoyed seeing how she adapted to a new environment and eventually opened herself up to other people. I also really appreciated the fact that many of the major conflicts in the book were mental. It's a YA novel, so there's almost inevitably a romance angle, but with none of the "OMG he's so hot!" aspects that you might expect. The romance is based on an intellectual and emotional connection, and I found that incredibly refreshing.
In other ways, too, this is unlike your typical YA novel. The YA classification actually surprised me sometimes, because Fire, despite being seventeen in theory, acts a lot older and has concerns that might seem more fitting to someone in her mid-twenties. I could easily relate, for example, to her reaction to seeing people around her getting pregnant: she desperately wanted children herself, but couldn't have any, because she didn't want to bring another potentially destructive creature like herself into the world. I don't share the latter concern for myself, but I do look jealously at my friends' cute children on Facebook while my own life is delayed by at least six years thanks to graduate school. But at seventeen, this wasn't something that I really thought about at all.
So, I can see this as a book that would appeal to older readers of YA: the world is interesting and fresh, the romance has depth, and the more mature protagonist is easy to relate to. I do wonder a bit about how much it would appeal to actual YAs, but that's not really my concern. show less
So, this means I liked Fire a lot. It was very different from Graceling, being set in almost an show more entirely different world. In the Dells there are "monsters", brightly-coloured but potentially more deadly versions of regular creatures. Fire is the only surviving human monster, with a beauty that makes weak-minded people helpless before her and an ability to read and influence other people's thoughts and feelings. She's obviously very powerful, but reluctant to use her power and in many ways ashamed of it because of the horrible example set by her father.
Much of this book is about Fire's struggle to come to terms with herself, and I enjoyed seeing how she adapted to a new environment and eventually opened herself up to other people. I also really appreciated the fact that many of the major conflicts in the book were mental. It's a YA novel, so there's almost inevitably a romance angle, but with none of the "OMG he's so hot!" aspects that you might expect. The romance is based on an intellectual and emotional connection, and I found that incredibly refreshing.
In other ways, too, this is unlike your typical YA novel. The YA classification actually surprised me sometimes, because Fire, despite being seventeen in theory, acts a lot older and has concerns that might seem more fitting to someone in her mid-twenties. I could easily relate, for example, to her reaction to seeing people around her getting pregnant: she desperately wanted children herself, but couldn't have any, because she didn't want to bring another potentially destructive creature like herself into the world. I don't share the latter concern for myself, but I do look jealously at my friends' cute children on Facebook while my own life is delayed by at least six years thanks to graduate school. But at seventeen, this wasn't something that I really thought about at all.
So, I can see this as a book that would appeal to older readers of YA: the world is interesting and fresh, the romance has depth, and the more mature protagonist is easy to relate to. I do wonder a bit about how much it would appeal to actual YAs, but that's not really my concern. show less
Summary: Katsa is special. Born with one blue eye and one green - the mark of the Graced - Katsa is a near-unbeatable fighter, either with her hands or with any weapon she holds. Her uncle, King Randa, has turned Katsa's Grace to his advantage, using her as his enforcer, thug, and assassin. Katsa's not happy with this role, however, and has started a secret society committed to righting wrongs on the sly. On one of their missions to rescue a kidnapped old man from the dungeons of a show more neighboring king, Katsa meets Po, who is a prince in his own right, the grandson of the old man, and who possesses a fighting Grace that can match Katsa's own. They become sparing partners, and eventually friends, but the question of Po's grandfather's kidnapping gnaws at them. Who would order such a thing, and why? They set out to investigate, but what they find is a threat so great that it might engulf all of the seven kingdoms... if they can't find a way to stop it.
Review: The short version? I enjoyed the heck out of it. I enjoyed it so much I was creating opportunities to go and listen to more of it, cheerfully volunteering for one of the most boring tasks at work, just because it's a task I could do with my headphones on. I'm actually having a really hard time putting my finger on exactly why I liked it so much, but before I start dissecting it, I just want to reiterate: Graceling was compelling, relatable, exciting, and a thoroughly great read.
In almost all particulars, Graceling is very very similar to a Tamora Pierce novel. Teen heroine who has some special ability that sets her apart from everyone else, who's good at almost everything she does, even though these powers make her somewhat of an outsider? Check and check. Romantic interest who is also special/supernatural/powered in some way, and is therefore the only guy who can ever hope to keep up with our heroine? Both have 'em. (As a side note, I now have enough of a bookcrush on Po that I'm willing to overlook his metallic-colored eyes, which is ordinarily a huge pet peeve.) Plot involving political intrigue and corruption within a medieval fantasy kingdom? Yup. A healthy mix of coming-of age, romance, action, plotting, and witty banter? Yes across the board. The only real difference I can pick out is that Pierce's books have more magic/mythology, with direct involvement by the gods, while the origin of the Graces is never really explained. There's not even a method-of-consumption bias: I listened to both of them done by Full Cast Audio (which took me a while to get into, but eventually wound up being very enjoyable; a lot of the voice actors did really excellent work). So, even though there's not much to chose between them, while Pierce's books are reliably enjoyable, none of them knocked my socks off the way Graceling did.
In fact, the only thing I can find to ding Graceling for is a bit of heavy-handed expository worldbuilding in the early chapters. The nature of the Graces, the political layout of the various kingdoms, etc., are all presented flat out in a way that doesn't feel particularly organic to the story or the characters, instead of being more subtly woven in. Still, it is a very interesting world that's being set up, and once it's established, everything flows much more smoothly, and the character development and story development are handled with considerable skill, especially given that this is Cashore's first novel. I also really appreciated both the strong feminist lead, and the overall sensibility and mature handling of some thorny issues. Overall, even though I can't entirely define *why* I enjoyed it so much, I found it absolutely engrossing, I was sad that it was over, and I already have Fire queued up on my iPod. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: Fans of Tamora Pierce or those who like YA fantasy with a strong feminist twist should definitely put Graceling at the top of their list. Even those who aren't particular fantasy fans but who like a good coming-of-age story with solid doses of romance, humor, and action should check it out; I don't think the fantasy elements are prevalent enough to be off-putting. show less
Review: The short version? I enjoyed the heck out of it. I enjoyed it so much I was creating opportunities to go and listen to more of it, cheerfully volunteering for one of the most boring tasks at work, just because it's a task I could do with my headphones on. I'm actually having a really hard time putting my finger on exactly why I liked it so much, but before I start dissecting it, I just want to reiterate: Graceling was compelling, relatable, exciting, and a thoroughly great read.
In almost all particulars, Graceling is very very similar to a Tamora Pierce novel. Teen heroine who has some special ability that sets her apart from everyone else, who's good at almost everything she does, even though these powers make her somewhat of an outsider? Check and check. Romantic interest who is also special/supernatural/powered in some way, and is therefore the only guy who can ever hope to keep up with our heroine? Both have 'em. (As a side note, I now have enough of a bookcrush on Po that I'm willing to overlook his metallic-colored eyes, which is ordinarily a huge pet peeve.) Plot involving political intrigue and corruption within a medieval fantasy kingdom? Yup. A healthy mix of coming-of age, romance, action, plotting, and witty banter? Yes across the board. The only real difference I can pick out is that Pierce's books have more magic/mythology, with direct involvement by the gods, while the origin of the Graces is never really explained. There's not even a method-of-consumption bias: I listened to both of them done by Full Cast Audio (which took me a while to get into, but eventually wound up being very enjoyable; a lot of the voice actors did really excellent work). So, even though there's not much to chose between them, while Pierce's books are reliably enjoyable, none of them knocked my socks off the way Graceling did.
In fact, the only thing I can find to ding Graceling for is a bit of heavy-handed expository worldbuilding in the early chapters. The nature of the Graces, the political layout of the various kingdoms, etc., are all presented flat out in a way that doesn't feel particularly organic to the story or the characters, instead of being more subtly woven in. Still, it is a very interesting world that's being set up, and once it's established, everything flows much more smoothly, and the character development and story development are handled with considerable skill, especially given that this is Cashore's first novel. I also really appreciated both the strong feminist lead, and the overall sensibility and mature handling of some thorny issues. Overall, even though I can't entirely define *why* I enjoyed it so much, I found it absolutely engrossing, I was sad that it was over, and I already have Fire queued up on my iPod. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: Fans of Tamora Pierce or those who like YA fantasy with a strong feminist twist should definitely put Graceling at the top of their list. Even those who aren't particular fantasy fans but who like a good coming-of-age story with solid doses of romance, humor, and action should check it out; I don't think the fantasy elements are prevalent enough to be off-putting. show less
There should be a campaign to grace girls worldwide with a copy of Kristin Cashore’s debut novel, Graceling. In the world of the 7 Kingdoms, rare individuals are “graced” with abilities ranging from cooking to swimming, fighting to mind-reading. But only the heroine Katsa bears a killing grace. As a child she works as a King’s assassin, her brutality infamous throughout the Kingdoms. But as Katsa travels, she learns how lucky she is: most women cannot best any man, many children have show more no choice except dependence. Katsa abandons the King and instead chooses to become a superhero, an ass-kicking protagonist fighting for the people’s rights. She also falls in love with a man surely more swoon-worthy than any sparkling vampire. But Graceling surprises at every turn; how many heroines are stronger fighters than their lovers? How many female protagonists question marriage? Cashore plays with gender stereotypes in a realistic and deeply satisfying way. The storytelling unravels at the climax, but the build up is a tightly constructed novel, impossible to put down, and one which will be read again and again by a multitude of girls (and boys) struggling through these same issues of dependence, love and morality. show less
Lists
Next in series (4)
check for sequel (1)
Pageturners (1)
Female Author (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 74
- Members
- 26,574
- Popularity
- #785
- Rating
- 4.1
- Reviews
- 1,195
- ISBNs
- 320
- Languages
- 20
- Favorited
- 110
